The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has announced that it will conduct the second edition of the Indian Badminton League (IBL) from January 2 to 17, on a much superior scale and without the support of any external agency.
Even as Sporty Solutionz, the company which claimed intellectual rights for the event, having conducted the first edition in collaboration with BAI in August 2013, approached the Delhi High Court with a fresh petition, BAI was categorical that the contract had been cancelled and a caveat filed in both the High Court and Supreme Court, in May this year.
Addressing the media on Thursday, BAI president Akhilesh Das Gupta assured that the body had the expertise to conduct the event, as it had shown by holding the Super Series events, World Championship, Commonwealth Games, apart from the Thomas and Uber Cup finals.
“We are 100 per cent on the right track,” assured Dr. Gupta.
It was announced that the Delhi and Lucknow teams had owners in a computer company, Infinite Computer Solutions, and Sahara, while four other team owners for Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, were in the process of being finalised.
“We are replacing Pune with Chennai, as it was decided to have only one team in a State,” the BAI president revealed.
National chief coach P. Gopi Chand and Saina Nehwal’s coach Vimal Kumar were present at the press conference, along with leading players P.V. Sindhu, K. Srikkanth and Ajay Jayaram. Saina and P. Kashyap were unable to make it owing to prior commitments.
In a video clip that was played at the conference Saina said she was excited about the League and hoped to be part of it.
Vimal Kumar said the league was ideally placed in a nice window at the beginning of the year, even though it was midway through the Olympic qualification process.
Dismissing the concern of players possibly getting injured, Gopi Chand argued that the game itself had changed a lot, and the players were getting used to the new challenges, including the requirement of playing through the season.
“We have good support from the government, and have support staff who take care of fitness and thus the injury aspect is also addressed,” said Gopi Chand.
Stressing that the league would be an annual feature, the BAI president said the opening ceremony would be an impressive affair in Mumbai and the closing would be in Delhi.
He said further details, including the TV broadcaster, would be disclosed in due course.
The player auction would be held in November.
In all the six cities, there will be events for school children, named Shuttle India Initiative, and the young players would get to interact with top stars.
